


A Parent's Strife

by Ambrose



Series: Dare to Write Challenge [34]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Universe, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 13:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8581138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambrose/pseuds/Ambrose
Summary: When she learned Clarke and Lexa were getting married, Abby vouched to kick Lexa's ass if any harm came to her daughter. Only now, to give her a fair chance, and also get to know her, Lexa agrees to train her future mother in law. 
[sequel to "Mother, do you think she's good enough?"]





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RatherCharmingVermin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RatherCharmingVermin/gifts).



"Abby." Lexa came towards her, standing tall and serious, hands clasped behind her back. She seemed nervous, though Abby couldn't tell why. 

"Yes, Lexa?" she answered, wondering what she wanted to talk about. It was probably something to do with the surprise marriage her daughter was married, or some political matter regarding the Sky people. Abby was growing tired of Polis and the foreign politics. She had to admit her daughter was better at that than she was. 

"Clarke told me you wanted me to teach you how to fight. If that is still the case, I would be honoured to."

Oh. Well, she didn't expect _that!_  But she can't exactly refuse such an offer from their ally. And her daughter's future wife, or however grounders called lifelong partners, she reminded herself. It would just be rude, and her people couldn't afford to do "rude" right now. Besides, she would not hear the end of it from Clarke. And maybe it was just the right occasion to get to know her future daughter-in-law.

"Right. Well, if that isn't too much of a bother. I imagine you must be quite busy."

"I am. But one has to make time for important things. Clarke wants us to get along," she said in all honesty, "and I intend to give it my best try." As Abby followed her to the training rooms, she went on: "I know we got off on the wrong foot, and I take full responsibility for my actions, as I hope you do for yours. But I intend to prove to you I have, and always had, nothing but good intentions towards you as an ally. And towards Clarke, of course. She tells me you plan to kill me if I ever hurt her. I admire that. It is a noble promise in a mother. So I intend to give you your best shot at it, if you ever decide to try. I would deserve it if I ever hurt Clarke. But I also do hope to prove to you at the same time that it is not necessary."

Abby was grateful for Lexa's directness, even though she still wouldn't trust her. Her daughter was clearly in love, and she knew very well what that did to someone's mind. 

Lexa first gave her some starting tips, on how to warm up before a fight if you can. She'd decided they would start with hand-to-hand combat. The Commander could use all kinds of weapons, Abby knew, so she suspected she was going easy on her for a start. At any rate, she was a good teacher.

Lexa smiled when she told her. "I've learned from the best. And I teach the Nightbloods sometimes. I like that."

Abby understood she meant the little kids Clarke told her about, the ones who might succeed her. She still disapproved of making children so young fight, but she'd seen Mount Weather and what they did to Lexa's people; she knew most of them needed those skills if they wanted to survive out there, and not be used as Reapers or blood bags. Still, here, far away from the Mountain, in such a big city, did they really need to be so violent? But then, wasn't she herself taking a class on how to fight, just right now, because she might one day have to defend herself? Well, she did say it was to hurt Lexa if she did anything to Clarke, but she knew it could come in handy any time in this savage world their ancestors left them to deal with. 

But then they started to spar, and if Lexa was slow enough, gentle enough at first, to show her the proper moves, she did not let anything pass. She might be careful when she slammed Abby against the protection mattress - Abby was soon convinced she could just break her back if she wanted to - she still didn't let her win any of the bouts. She was careful to pinpoint where Abby was failing, to correct her so she did better and better, but no matter what, Abby could never land a punch. She was getting more and more exhausted every new round, every new thing Lexa tried to show her, and she finally called it quits. 

"Alright, I think you beat me up enough for today," she breathed out.

Lexa held a hand out to help her up, and gave her a towel.  She also walked her through stretching exercises, despite Abby's pained grumblings. 

"If you don't do them now, you'll regret it later," Lexa warned. "And you've got another sparring session with me, tomorrow, same time, so I don't want you to be all cramped up." 

She grinned. Abby couldn't believe she tricked herself into doing this whole training thing... Especially since, in all appearances, the Commander was unbeatable. 

"You did good," Lexa assured her, as if she could read her mind. "I've been training all my life, you can't expect to beat me on the first day. I'd be quite a terrible Commander and fighter if that were possible. Not to mention, no offense, but you're not so young anymore." 

Abby tried not to scowl, though she also couldn't help a small smile at Lexa's cheeky honesty. 

"But with practice," Lexa quickly went on, "you could be quite decent." 

Abby laughed her thanks, and left to get a most welcome shower while Lexa walked off to perform more important duties. If there was one advantage to living in Polis, it was the running water. She wasn't quite sure she had learned anything about trusting Lexa - other than trusting her not to kill her in a training session - but she guessed that would come with time, especially if they were going to spend an hour together every other day. Obviously Lexa was very training-focused and took it very seriously, but she could also see her personality shine through at times, like how she talked of the Nightbloods as younger siblings she cared a lot about. She wasn't quite sure about her, really, but she had to admit she might not be as bad in all aspects as she'd previously imagined. 

And if she still found it hard to fathom that such a young girl could rule thirteen full clans and be listened to by all these older, more qualified people, maybe what she needed to do was rethink her consideration for her, instead of underestimating her. It clearly worked, her past few days in Polis had at least shown her that. She was respected, but not feared. Her people loved her and found her just. She could be harsh with the ambassadors when they overstepped, but she also knew what needed to be done when a problem arose. As much as Abby didn't want to admit it, she was competent. 

Besides, she had made the effort of being nice to Abby and complying with her crazy wish of learning to fight in order to beat her. Even though she must have known how unrealistic that was from the start. And she didn't act like she was proving a point whenever she beat Abby, she was clearly doing it in earnest. Which, in Abby's mind, meant a lot, because that day could have become a lot more embarrassing otherwise.

And Clarke was getting married to her. It was still hard for Abby to think of her daughter as so independent, but she did manage to keep most of her friends alive when they were sent to the ground, and then she did manage to save them from Mount Weather in spite of everything - in spite of Abby herself. If Lexa was of the same mettle - and had lived in this world for so much longer - of course she was a capable ruler. And she did not know (yet) that she could trust her with her daughter, but if someone out there could understand her, could understand the decisions she had had to make, that would be Lexa. And maybe it wasn't Abby's call to make. Even though she _would_  keep her promise to kick Lexa's ass if any harm came to her daughter. But for that, she'd have to train hard, and as she realised when all her muscles started to ache, might be easier said than done. Maybe she should get Octavia or someone to train her on the side when she was at Arkadia, so she gained some muscles to surprise her daughter-in-law with next time. 


End file.
